


Hold Down To The Earth

by Lady_Katana4544



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Mostly Gen, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 01:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10060862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Katana4544/pseuds/Lady_Katana4544
Summary: Someone needed to make sure that the team came back to the ground.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration for this fic comes from [the prompt posted here](http://ruuger.dreamwidth.org/1019961.html?thread=5596217#cmt5596217). This fic is a slightly expanded version of what I had originally posted to the prompt.

Maria knows that Fury likes to have plans and then have more plans upon the first plans. Especially so with plans of having do with the Avengers. The Avengers themselves are all very different, volatile even in some cases, and not all situations can be handled smoothly through plans like Fury would want. 

However these people have all somehow become _her friends_ and there is nothing that she wouldn’t do for them.

The civilian population tries to its hardest to fly like the Avengers do, but often times they come back to the ground unsuccessful in their attempts.

The Avengers? They fly like the highest of kites in the sky and someone needs to keep hold of their grounding threads.

 

0

Maria & Bruce (strongly implied Bruce/Betty) -

Maria hadn’t been all that surprised to hear that the man had fled from civilization after the destruction of Harlem. His strings had seemingly been cut when Ross forcibly took his daughter out of the picture and stuffed her away into some shadowy corner.

When Fury officially begins using SHIELD resources to begin looking for the man, she’s gone and already used most of them to look into Ross’s secrets. Unofficially of course.

So she decides to take a long look into those shadowy corners that Ross no doubt wants no one looking into while Fury and Coulson dealt with Ross and the Accords before the Avengers can say “lol fuck you” to the man and start fighting amongst each other like children fighting over the sandbox tools. She makes a mental note to track Spiderman when she gets back to headquarters, because honestly how did Tony Stark manage to find the kid before S.H.I.E.L.D.’s people did?

It takes nearly three weeks of looking, but she does succeed at her mission and it is worth it in the end to see the look of rage on Ross when she brings his daughter into the designated meeting room. From the sidelines, she’s watching how it crumbles into tiny pieces of defeat as they all watch Betty and Bruce simply hold each other.

Natasha smoothly moves into her space.

“So that’s why Clint and I couldn’t find you for the longest time.”

Maria smiles and shrugs one shoulder.

“I can neither confirm nor deny anything, Agent Romanoff.”

0

Maria & Clint & Natasha & Laura (strongly implied Clint/Natasha/Laura) -

In the beginning, she hadn’t planned on being a matchmaker. Accidental or otherwise.

Maria recalls sending Barton down to the area to find a few pieces of enemy tech that had gotten onto SHIELD’s radar and knew that Fury would want it in their hands before anyone else could get their hands on it. That had been over a week ago.

It’s only later that Maria also remembers a retired former SHIELD agent was also living in the area. Damn. Which meant that the agent would have to be moved to a new location. Normally she would bring this to Fury and get his decision on the matter, but she decides to handle the matter herself.

It would also let her privately look into where Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff had disappeared too.

Maria does her best to not appear surprised when she arrives at the home to find Laura sitting on the porch with Clint’s head in her lap and Natasha looming behind her. She stops at the bottom step to survey the situation before her.

“Agents. Laura.”

Laura smiles at her from her position on the porch as Clint’s headrest.

“Agent Hill. It’s good to see you again. Come here for your missing agents?”

Maria nods slightly.

“Them and the contents of Agent Barton’s original mission. It’s good to see you as well. You’re well I hope?”

Laura angles her head to the left with the smile still on her face. “Of course. The contents of your agent’s mission should all be in the barn. I am very well thank you. Both Agent Romanoff and Agent Clint Barton have been delightful company these past few days. Think Fury would let me keep both of them?”

The question stalls her thought process of getting the tech back to the helicarrier without drawing unwanted attention and possibly needing to move Laura along with her home to a new location.

“Both of them?” Maria slowly repeats staring at Laura and her wicked little grin –she remembers very well in the past just how much trouble that wicked little grin would cause– while trying to ignore the puppy eyed looks that Clint is aiming at her. Also the coolly assessing gaze from Romanoff that has a gleam of something else in it.

Perhaps she should have had Coulson deal with this mission since two of the Agents before her were nominally his responsibility.

0

Maria & Thor (implied Thor/Jane) -

In the span of time that Thor is with them prior to the New York Incident, Maria somehow manages to learn what the man’s favorite things are.

Jane. Sugary foods. Jane. Coffee. All food in general really, including some of the Middle Eastern variety after the Incident is dealt with thanks to Stark inviting to the entire team to a little nearby restaurant that somehow survived all the fighting. But mostly it was Jane who was the most important person, so keeping her safe and live was the key to securing Thor’s continued goodwill and friendship.

After he leaves for Asgard with the criminal Loki and once the mess with the helicarrier and New York is all dealt with, Maria locates Jane and her little group outside of a little town studying some kind of anomaly. Apparently her timing is most fortunate, because an enemy group finds them as well at the same time.

Its definitely a literal firefight to get them all out of the area and to get Jane to agree to join S.H.I.E.L.D provisionally.

Apparently worth it, because it apparently gains her some favor with the Asgardian prince. Maria discovers this only after he returns to Earth a week later, Thor walks up to her and gently grasps her right shoulder.

“Heimdall told me that you secured the freedom of my Lady Jane when harm would have otherwise befallen her. I thank you, Maria, daughter of Hill.” Thor rumbles softly.

“No, thanks needed, Thor. I was happy to do it.” Maria says in an equally soft voice.

0

Maria & Tony:

Going undercover at Tony’s business is one of the more interesting assignments that she’s done in her time with S.H.I.E.L.D. One of the baby S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had brought her intel that an enemy group was planning to attack Stark Industries. 

More than likely to take something, some information that they considered to be of value. The Council had dismissed the matter as something that was fine to ignore –which didn’t sit well at all with Maria and her gut–. However Fury, sharing her reservations, took her aside and gave her the assignment to attend too personally.

Maria approaches both Pepper and Tony with the intel and a plan to make sure that enemy doesn’t get in or out with whatever information that they might be seeking to illegally gain from Stark.

It takes the better part of three weeks watching for enemy fighters and a firefight that leads to Jarvis running two Iron Man suits, because somehow the enemy has found a way to mess with the arc reactor sitting inside Tony’s chest. 

Somehow Maria manages to keep the man calm while returning bullets to the other side of the hallway and Pepper gets a new non-messed with arc reactor into the gaping slot and helps Tony get into another suit before turning her attention back to the fight.

Pepper nods at her. “Thanks for being here, Maria.”

“Anytime, Pepper.”

She will make sure that Pepper, Tony, their reputations, and reputation of their business are protected.

0

Maria & Steve (implied Steve/Maria) -

From the beginning, Captain Rogers is a fascinating man to watch. Maria isn’t at all surprised that he immediately figured out that something wasn’t right with the attempted illusion of being back in his own time and then ran like a bat out of hell.

There aren’t that many people left alive who even matter to Steve, so she makes it her job to let the man know that he does have an ally within S.H.I.E.L.D., regardless of the fact that she is Fury’s second. So she works hard to prove to Steve that he can trust her if he doesn’t feel inclined to trust Fury.

Steve accepts her friendship as he acclimates to the newness of the current world around him, while learning to lead a team like the Avengers. Maria found herself wondering if they were anything like the Howling Commandos or if they were possibly completely different from his first team.

As much as she might deny it, Maria thinks that her awe and fascination with Steve Rogers may have turned into something beyond that along with the simple friendship into something more. Something that included daily lunches, unknowingly posing for him to do a quick sketch were among some of the things that they had started doing.

Even providing a nightly ear when he can’t sleep because something is on his mind and because they just recently found Bucky alive together and brought the man over to their side.

 

There are a lot of things that she would do make sure that the Avengers all had someone to make sure that each of them came back to the ground from the sky and be among the civilian population as needed.


End file.
